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Louisiana State Police Commission (LPSC) Chairman Eulis Simien, Jr., prepares to announce his resignation on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

Only two (2) Members of the LSPC have served on that body since we began filming the meetings in January of 2017:  Eulis Simien, Jr., and Jared Caruso-Riecke.  Simien has served as Chairman since the  unceremonious departure of then-Chairman (and active Trooper) T. J. Doss occurred after first being videotaped (by Sound Off Louisiana‘s Burns) checking into the Watermark Hotel mere hours after an LSPC meeting.

Ordinarily, there wouldn’t be anything unusual about checking into a hotel; however, since Doss was filmed checking into the hotel with then-Vice Chairman Monica Manzella (who also unceremoniously departed mere days after Doss’s departure), it was just one more act which has caused many to openly question just how much “integrity” Members of the LSPC have.

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, Simien abruptly announced his resignation.  Here’s a brief video of him doing so along with the praise heaped upon him by Vice Chairman (and active Trooper Member) Monty Montelongo:

 12/12/24:  LSPC Chairman Simien resigns followed by showering of praise by Vice Chairman Monty Montelongo.

There’s plenty we could say about Montelongo’s praise entailing Simien; however, we are going to save that for a future feature because we want to immediately shift gears to the one (1) remaining LSPC Commissioner since the days we began filming:  Jared Caruso-Riecke.

Riecke is, by far, the unquestioned most controversial Member of the LSPC, and his term actually expired on December 5, 2024, but he is actively seeking reappointment to another six-year term which would not expire until December 5, 2030.

Accordingly, on Thursday, December 5, 2024, LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman sent this email to Dillard University Interim President Monique Guillory which contained (as attachments) this documentation explaining the process for submitting names for up to three (3) candidates to serve in Riecke’s position for the next six years.  From the email (sent to [email protected]) and letter:

Importance:High

Dear Interim President Guillory,

I am emailing you to call your attention to the expiring term for the State Police Commissioner representing the 1^st Congressional District. That vacancy, under the provisions of Article X §43 of the Louisiana Constitution is to be filled by a nominee from the President of Dillard University. Today is the end of the term; therefore, the new term commences tomorrow and you have 30 days (starting tomorrow) to submit three nominees to the governor. Please see the attached correspondence relative to this impending vacancy. Due to the time-sensitive nature of filling vacancies, I am contacting you initially through this email correspondence and will also follow up by regular U.S. mail.

 

I appreciate your time and consideration in selecting three (3) qualified nominees for consideration and submitting those nominees to the Office of the Governor between December 6, 2024, and before the deadline of Saturday, January 4, 2025. Due to the time-sensitive nature of the request, you may also forward a scanned copy of the nomination list to my attention and I will forward it to the Director of Boards and Commissions. Please contact me if you have questions regarding the process.

Mr. Jared Caruso-Riecke has served as a member of the State Police Commission representing the First Congressional District since his appointment to an unexpired term by Governor Edwards on June 6, 2016. He was subsequently reappointed to a full term on January 8, 2019. Mr. Riecke is an active member with regular attendance; he is interested in continuing his service and bringing his unique business insight to the Commission; and, he is hopeful to be nominated once again so that he may be considered for a new term on the Commission.

The governor is required to make his appointment within thirty (30) days of receiving your list. Should the governor fail to appoint one of the nominees within thirty days, the nominee whose name appears first on the list of three (3) nominees you submitted shall become a member of the State Police Commission, with consent of the Senate. If you fail to submit a list of three (3) names within the allotted thirty (30) days, the governor may select any qualified resident from the First Congressional District for appointment to this commission, with consent of the Senate. The individual selected will fill a new term set to expire on December 5, 2030.

Our website’s visitors may recall this February 1, 2024 feature entailing a letter sent out by the collective LSPC Members concerning the campaign of Collin Sims, who was seeking election to a full term as St. Tammany Parish District Attorney after having served in an interim capacity upon the passing of Warren Montgomery.

In that feature, we highlighted some of the past controversies of Commissioner Riecke, and we repeat them at this time:

3.  Sometime in May, 2023:  Counter-clock podcast entailing the murder of Caruso-Riecke’s former business partner, Bruce Cucchiara.  As Burns explained in the video above, Counter Clock’s reference to Sound Off Louisiana features on Riecke caused a skyrocket in hits to those features and, at the time, Burns had absolutely no idea why those hits were transpiring.

4.  October 30, 2019:  Our replica of the Brain Scratch’s  podcasts focusing on the Cucchiara murder.

 

The Counter Clock podcast referenced above is one of the absolute best and most thorough features of investigative journalism that Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns has ever encountered.  Obviously, the feature centered around the murder of Riecke’s business partner, Bruce Cucchiara, in 2012 (Riecke, after first suing New York Life for payment, received $5 million from a life insurance policy as a result of Cucchiara’s death).

Beyond the Cucchiara murder, however, the feature goes into great depth about the lives of both Cucchiara and Riecke.

In fact, the feature even goes so far as to provide the December, 2005 actual plea agreement (Episode 9) that one of Riecke’s companies agreed to entailing a guilty plea and accompanying alleged-record EPA fine of $2.1 million for violations of the Federal Clean Water Acts, together with $12.862 million in remedial costs for damages associated with those violations (see bottom of page on just-linked document).

The involvement of both Riecke and Simien in the Sims campaign angered a significant number of residents in St. Tammany Parish.  Riecke is alleged to have been a strong supporter of Sims’ opponent, Vincent Winn.  Sims absolutely clobbered Winn by a margin of 69-31 in the March 23, 2024 election.

That anger ran so high that a group of seven (7) St. Tammany Parish residents, incensed by the apparent involvement of Riecke in the DA race, sued all seven (7) Members of the LSPC alleging an Open Meetings Violation entailing the then-collective group’s corresponding with one another to mail that infamous letter to the Sims campaign.

They have been especially vocal about their displeasure of the appearance of Gov. Landry’s name on prominent display on the letterhead and the implicit signal it sent that Landry, like Riecke, supported Winn in that election.  We have inquired of the Landry administration entailing whether Gov. Landry did in fact support Winn over Sims; however, his office declined to respond to our written inquiry entailing the matter.

On September 19, 2024, Belinda Parker-Brown, a Plaintiff in the litigation, served the LSPC with discovery requests which also made inquiry of past alleged problematic acts by Riecke.  We’ll repeat a few of those discovery items at this time:

Please admit that Defendant Riecke had a feature role in a reality television show featuring teams of race cars speeding across the nation’s highways at speeds exceeding 100 MPH.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke is on video making a $50,000 bet on one such racing team.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, a race car team is on video opening the trunk of a car to expose approximately 10 or more license plates for swap out, “in the event our license plate is called out over our inboard police radar scanner.”

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke is on video bragging about concealed radar-detection equipment in the right dashboard of his vehicle.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke, after exposing his inboard radar detection and police scanner capabilities, then replaced the in-board façade dashboard utilized to conceal that equipment and also stating on video that, “police tend to frown on this sort of thing, so….”

So, for all those folk in St. Tammany Parish upset with the fact that Riecke even still remains on the LSPC, we’ll offer these suggestions of actions:

# 1.  Contacting Dillard University’s Interim President, Monique Guillory, via email at [email protected].

and EITHER:

# 2.  Indicating a desire to serve on the LSPC, OR

#3.  Letting any negative sentiments anyone may have toward Riecke being reappointed to another six-year term be known to her.

In addition to sending an email to President Guillory at [email protected], anyone is also welcome to copy that email to Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected].

The final decision rests with Gov. Landry on whether he wishes to have Riecke serve another six years or not, but we just figured we’d take the process out of the dark secrecy and provide a little sunshine on how the whole process transpires.

We also commit to inform everyone once Landry’s decision is made with regard to both Simien’s replacement (irrespective of how long it may take to find someone of his caliber as per Montelongo) and whomever Landry chooses for the next six years entailing Riecke’s expired term.

LSP Lt. Russell Graham, who was the subject of an absolute joke of a hearing conducted on August 8, 2023 under former LSP Col. Lamar Davis.

Site visitors may recall our October 2, 2024 feature on The Lens / NOLA‘s lawsuit against LSP for the withholding of an infamous $1,000/hour contract for Ed O’Callaghan’s legal services.

In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, founder Robert Burns provides the resolution of that litigation, which concluded with somebody (almost guaranteed us taxpayers) having to fork over $12,500 for LSP’s improper withholding of that $1,000/hour legal contract (The Lens / NOLA had gotten the records months ago).

Here’s the feature wherein Burns reveals, for the first time, just what made him so angry at LSP for declining his first public records request under the then-new Jeff Landry / Robert Hodges / Frank Besson regime:

  12/9/24:  Burns outlines the Lens / NOLA LSP litigation settlement.

As Burns makes clear in the above video, some active LSP Troopers contacted Burns early on in the Hodges regime and asked that Sound Off Louisiana publish a feature wherein they wanted Hodges to receive praise for transferring LSP Sgt. Georgiana Lynn Kibodeaux Sonnier to Gaming in Breaux Bridge.

We told them, just as Burns indicates on the above video, he would first seek a public records request to substantiate all transfers.  Burns outlines the runaround that LSP gave him, which led to his anger and frustration at Hodges et. al.  At one point, LSP declined to even provide the sheer number of transfers even with Burns making it clear names could be excluded.

Further, Burns’ correspondence with LSP’s Nick Manale attempting to at least substantiate the Kibodeaux transfer was fruitless.

As a result of LSP’s stonewalling of providing a public records request that was actually intended to benefit Hodges (or maybe he doesn’t want praise from any of his underlings), we simply abandoned any intent to publish the feature that troopers requested of us.

Much of the glee of troopers over Kibodeaux’s transfer came as a result of this August 8, 2023 hearing entailing LSP Lt. Russell Graham.  As Burns candidly stated in the video above, the hearing was nothing short of a “joke,” and Burns emphasized that, as a young child (even seven or eight years old), he was raised on a 13-acre property which had a 3-acre figure-8 pond which was 32 feet deep, and he lived in that pond!  As he said on the video, he, “may as well have been a duck.”

Burns also indicated that he and his cousins and friends engaged in horseplay on Styrofoam boats knocking one another off into the water that was far more serious than anything Graham engaged in regarding that utterly embarrassing episode of former LSP Col. Davis invoking discipline against Graham over the LSP swimming pool incident.  It was nothing short of complete frustration to see all of the time, energy, and wasted resources of LSP’s internal investigation of Graham!  It was absolutely unbelievable and, being blunt, appeared to us to be nothing short of an unjustifiable vendetta against Graham!

Burns also emphasized on the video that, even at that young age of eight or nine, he would swim from one end of that 3-acre pond to the other where there was nothing separating him but the 32-feet depth of water (at the deepest point of the swim).  If anyone wonders, he was wearing no life preserver, and both Burns and his parents were that confident in his swimming skills (Sidenote:  Burns’ father’s mother, who lived with the family, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck anytime her beloved grandson proclaimed to her that, “I’m going swimming!”).

Here’s a current aerial map of that very same pond (although it’s now all grown up with trees surrounding it and the water level is much, much lower due to a break in the roadway separating it and Hurricane Creek toward the very back of the property):

So, just like many troopers who contacted us, we too were stunned at Davis’ action, and we indicated to them that we would be more than happy to facilitate a feature indicating that Kibodeaux had in fact been transferred to Gaming in Breaux Bridge but, after we hit the stone wall we did with Hodges et. al., we just basically said, “to hell with it,” (and that’s being kind because Burns’ Irish temper is perfectly capable of flaring at times, and it flared to anyone who would listen to him about just how angry he was with Hodges over the handling of that public records request)!

As Burns indicated in the above video, however, we are now, for the first time, publishing the totality of Kibodeaux’s testimony at the August 8, 2023 hearing even though we uploaded the video over a year ago and just kept in in “drafts.”  Here it is:

 8/9/23:  Full testimony of LSP Sgt. Georgiana Lynn Kibodeaux Sonnier at the LSP appeal hearing of Lt. Russell Graham.

Let us not only emphasize the $12,500 of (likely) taxpayer money flushed right down the toilet from LSP’s indefensible action entailing The Lens / NOLA‘s public records request, but also the billings from Breazeale Sachse in defending LSP against the piss poor decisions made by Hodges et. al. regarding that request transpiring right out of the gate as they assumed their positions!

As Burns states in the main video for this feature, hopefully that utterly asinine mentality entailing public records requests is going to soften.

If not, however,  we believe that the fine folks at the First Amendment Law Clinic at Tulane’s  Law School, for whom we express extreme gratitude as we do also to The Lens / NOLA, have plenty more stationery with which to crank out more lawsuits, and we hope they don’t hesitate to file such suits when and if these types of arbitrary denials of public records transpire in the future!

Ms. Anisa Parks, Co-owner and “problem solver” at Headliners NOLA conducts one-on-one interview with Sound Off Louisiana soon after the December 2, 2024 meeting of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC).

With great fanfare, the Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, sued the LSBC on or around June 20, 2019.

IJ asserted that the LSBC violated Louisiana’s Constitution by imposing overly-restrictive licensing regulations entailing hair braiding, thus infringing on braiders’ rights to earn a living free of excessive and unnecessary governmental regulation.

The LSBC has, for a long time, required an “alternative hair permit” (i.e. a “braiding permit”), in order to legally braid hair in Louisiana.  Obtaining the permit requires 500 hours of classroom instruction, whereas IJ has insisted that no classroom instruction whatsoever should be required to practice hair braiding in Louisiana.

The matter was litigated before 19th JDC Judge Wilson Fields.  After IJ concluded the presentation of its evidence, the LSBC sought a Directed Verdict.  Judge Fields indicated that IJ had, “failed to meet its burden of proof,” and granted the LSBC’s Motion for Directed Verdict dismissing the case at Plaintiff’s cost.  IJ appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Fields’ decision.    On July 18, 2024, IJ posted the following video indicating how “really dumb” it asserts the LSBC’s regulation of hair braiders is and also announced its intent to file a Writ with the Louisiana Supreme Court over the matter:

7/18/24:  IJ makes clear just how “really dumb” it contends LSBC’s “500 hours of ‘unrelated’ training” is, the fact that the regulation drives practitioners either, “elsewhere or underground,” and the fact that IJ intended to file a Writ with the Louisiana Supreme Court over the whole matter.

IJ did in fact file the Writ with the Louisiana Supreme Court; however, the Court declined the Writ application, and the LSBC celebrated that fact at its most-recent December 2, 2024 meeting.  Let’s take a few seconds to see LSBC attorney Sheri Morris proclaim final victory for the LSBC at that meeting:

 12/2/24:  LSBC Attorney Sheri Morris devotes 23 seconds to her “attorney report” to inform LSBC Members of the Louisiana Supreme Court’s decision to deny IJ’s writ application.

Now, the last few LSBC meetings have been more than a little interesting because, for the first time, both aspiring hair braiders and longstanding hair braiders have been showing up at meetings and lamenting the LSBC practices just as IJ has been doing since 2019.

For a little review, it was just over three years ago that hair braider Wadvisha Chavis, who despite being so excited about the impending opening of her own hair braiding salon in Lake Charles, lamented the fact that the LSBC saddled her with the added cost of having to have a “manager” on site who possessed a full-blown cosmetology license (which requires 1,500 hours of training) in order for her to legally operate.

Chavis indicated then (just watch the video on the above-linked feature) that the added burden of what the LSBC required imperiled her very ability to have a hair braiding salon and provide for her children.

Well, Chavis appeared again at the December 2, 2024 meeting (three years after being so gleeful of opening her facility) and begged the LSBC for an, “apprenticeship program similar to that of barbers” so that aspiring hair braiders don’t have to endure what she did.  She further indicated that, her glee over opening her braiding salon only three years before notwithstanding, she wound up having to close the salon down.

She also expressed interest in being able to teach in such an apprenticeship program, but she indicated that the LSBC has insisted that she has to, “complete the whole course again,” and she further indicated that such a requirement poses a problem for her because she is trying to raise “six kids” while the Board imposes these burdens upon her.

Ironically, LSBC attorney Morris informed the LSBC that the IJ litigation impeded the “previous Board’s” ability to become more accommodating of requests such as Chavis’.  Here’s that video:

 12/2/24:  Chavis indicates all of the hardships that the LSBC imposes upon her and other similarly-situated aspiring hair braiders even as Board attorney Morris blames IJ and the then-pending litigation for causing the previous Board not to feel comfortable moving forward with such initiatives as a result of the “pending litigation.”

This is just our observation.  The present LSBC is now sensing that the historical stand of the LSBC, and we are certainly in a position to be knowledgeable of that stand given that we’ve attended and filmed dozens of meetings, is becoming increasingly unpopular among aspiring hair braiders!  Why?  Because that historical stand is flat-out blocking their abilities to earn livings in their chosen and loved profession.  Ironically, that is precisely what IJ asserted in its litigation and, to us at least, it appears the present LSBC may be willing to use both IJ and the “previous Board” as scapegoats for the LSBC’s historical stiff resistance to any loosening of the regulations of hair braiders whatsoever!

It hasn’t been just Chavis who has shown up at meetings recently to voice sentiments entailing LSBC’s hair braiding regulation.  Ms. Anisa Parks, Co-owner and “problem solver” at Headliners NOLA, has attended numerous LSBC meetings, and she has spoken up at the last couple of meetings.  In fact, at the LSBC meeting of November 4, 2024, Parks reinforced sentiments expressed by hair replacement specialist “Ms. Nancy” who is with Hair Styles Unlimited in Kenner about the LSBC making life difficult unnecessarily and thereby forcing practitioners to, “operate from their garages.”  Let’s take a look at the November, 2024 commentary of both Ms. Nancy and Ms. Parks:

 11/4/24:  Ms. Nancy & Ms. Parks vent frustrations about practitioners feeling compelled to take their operations, “into their garages.”

We also asked Ms. Parks if she would mind a one-on-one interview after the December 2, 2024 meeting, and she graciously accepted our invitation.  Let’s take a look at that video:

12/2/24:  Ms. Anisa Parks, Co-owner and “problem solver” at Headliners NOLA, conducts one-on-one interview with Sound Off Louisiana soon after the 12/2/24 Cosmetology Board meeting.

Ms. Parks reached out to us after our interview and indicated that there were more details she would have liked to have stated on the above video.  We told her that we would be more than happy to incorporate the additional statements she wished to make in this feature, so we’re going to supply that additional commentary from her at this time:

Dear Robert,

I wanted to extend my sincere gratitude for giving me the platform to voice my opinion about “Alternative Hair Design” on Sound Off Louisiana. The opportunity to discuss this important topic means a great deal to me and our business as we move forward, and I appreciate the space you’ve created for open and meaningful dialogue.

The one thing I did not voice in our video is that I favor standardization in Alternative Hair Design. It is essential for ensuring quality and professionalism in our industry. However, I firmly believe that these standards must be paired with experienced educators who truly understand the nuances of the craft. Without educators who have hands-on expertise and a deep connection to the communities they serve, any efforts at standardization risk falling short of their full potential.

Thank you again for facilitating this important conversation. Your support in amplifying voices within our community is valuable, and I look forward to continuing to engage with you on issues that impact this industry.

 

Best regards,

 

Headliners NOLA Salon

“Help us build our future – one loc at a time.”

We want to again extend our appreciation to Ms. Parks for her incredibly insightful input into all aspects of alternative hair design (i.e. braiding and locs).

We are going to have far more to report on developments at the LSBC but, rather than make this particular feature too lengthy, we’re deferring that material for later dates.  Nevertheless, it’s material we know you won’t want to miss!